The words millennials and 'Gen-Z' have been tossed around a lot lately by a bunch of OEMs, and Vivo just decided to take it up a notch and launch a new series of phones called 'Z-series'. The first phone to come out in the series with a "Z" tag is the new Vivo Z1 Pro.

Looking at the spec sheet and the features on offer, it's safe to say that Vivo is gunning for the highly competitive mid-range segment of the market. The company is also going for a highly competitive price tag of Rs. 14,999 (base variant), which puts it right next to the likes of the Redmi Note 7 Pro, the Realme 3 Pro and more.

But is the new Vivo Z1 Pro worth taking a look at in this price segment? Well, I've been using the Vivo Z1 Pro as my daily driver for the past few weeks, and I believe I do have an answer to that question. So, let's check it out -

Design & Build Quality

The Vivo Z1 Pro has got the looks to match the new phones that are coming out in 2019. On the front, the Vivo Z1 Pro has a 6.5-inch display with a punch-hole camera. Yes, a lot of manufacturers have moved on from the punch-hole displays to pop-up and sliding camera module to offer a non-intrusive experience, but Vivo is going with the same punch-hole design. It's doesn't bad or dated because even a lot of 2019 flagship phones like the Honor 20 Pro, the Galaxy S Series, etc. have a punch-hole display.

I'll talk a bit more about the display later, so let's move on with the design. Moving on to the back of the Z1 Pro, you'll be looking at a trendy design with a reflective color gradient back. As you can see, I have the Sonic Blue variant of the phone, but I am sure the other variants look equally impressive. Color gradients have been on the rise lately, so this is one way to make sure people know that you are indeed using a new phone with a trendy design.

The phone curves on the outside, but I do have to point out that the device feels a little wider than usual phones. I am not sure if it's just me, but I did have some difficulty using the phone with one hand. Not only is the overall footprint of the device a little tall and wide, but I can also confirm that it's got a little on the heavier side. However, all that makes up for sturdy build quality.

Seriously, this thing feels like a tank, which isn't something I can say for all the phones that are coming out lately. By the way, the Z1 Pro has a physical fingerprint scanner at the back and it works as intended. Nice and fast. The speakers on the Z1 Pro also sound really nice. They're loud and have clear sound output.

Overall, I'd say Vivo has done a really good job with the design and the build quality of the Z1 Pro. A lot of manufacturers have gotten really good at making beautiful phones, so it's hardly a surprise that Vivo has a well put-together device too. It also has a dedicated Google Assistant button on the left side, and Vivo has retained the 3.5mm headphone jack. But what I don't like about the Z1 Pro is that it uses a micro USB cable for charging. It's not a deal breaker for a lot of people, but I was really hoping to see a USB Type-C port on this phone.

Display

The Vivo Z1 Pro, as mentioned earlier, sports a 6.53-inch FHD+ display and it looks sweet. It's not a full-view display experience, thanks to the punch-hole camera design, but I've come to get used to displays with a punch-hole camera, it didn't really bother me all that much. However, if you're new to the world of punch-hole camera design, then it might take you a little while to used to it.

That being said, I didn't really have any issues with the display itself. The panel is nice and vivid and shows bright and punchy colors. It also gets amply bright in direct sunlight, so outdoor visibility wasn't really an issue either. Honestly, displays have gotten a lot better now. You can get some really good looking panels even on a budget phone these days, so there's hardly anything to complain about here. But yes, it's a tall phone, so you might have trouble reaching out to all four corners of the display, so just keep that in mind.

Performance

Moving on to the performance, there's a lot to talk about here. First of all, the Vivo Z1 Pro is the first smartphone in the Indian market to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 chipset. Just to touch base with this SoC, it brings all the bells and whistles of the Snapdragon 710 and comes with a few noteworthy improvements. Without getting into many details, let me just say that you're looking at around 10% performance improvement over the Snapdragon 710, which is not too shabby.

But how does it performs in real life? I'd say pretty good. I mean, I haven't any issues with the performance yet. The Snapdragon 710 is paired with up to 6GB of RAM and up to 128GB internal storage, which means there's a lot of room to play around with multi-tasking and storing apps and games. Day-to-day user experience has been smooth and I am yet to have experienced any major lag or stutter. Multi-tasking has also been a breeze even when I've had a ton of apps and games running at the same time. Day-to-day performance is solid.

I also played a lot of games on this phone to see how it fairs. It does have some high gaming aspirations since this is the official smartphone of the PUBG Mobile Club Open 2019. PUBG Mobile, as expected defaults on max settings and plays very well. I was getting very good frame rates throughout all my sessions. It does get a little warm to touch while playing games, but that's not really a huge deal breaker.

The Vivo Z1 Pro also ships with a bunch of gaming enhancement features, but I'll talk about them while we're checking out the software on this phone. For now, I'll just say that the Vivo Z1 Pro is a really good performer. Obviously, it's hard to tell the difference between the Snapdragon 710 and Snapdragon 712 chipset when it comes to overall usage, but I can confidently say that you won't be disappointed with the performance on this phone. I am just going to leave some benchmark scores to give you a better understanding of the performance if you're into numbers. Check it out.

Software

The Vivo Z1 Pro is running on Android 9 Pie out of the box and it comes with a layer of Vivo's FunTouchOS 9. Well, I am not really a huge fan of a skinned version of Android, but I was kind of overwhelmed to see the amount of bloatware this phone comes with. Here's a screenshot to give you an idea -

Yes, all the apps that you see on this particular page of the homescreen came pre-installed. Like, seriously. Adding a custom skin on a phone is one thing and throwing in all these apps into a brand new phone is another. I didn't even bother removing them from the phone. This isn't the kind of user experience I want. Please give us a clean phone and allow us to decided which apps we want to see.

Anyway, look past the messy bloatware situation, you'll see a lot of 'extra stuff' that you may not have experienced if you're new to the world of Vivo phones. FunTouchOS has an iOS-like control center which you can access by swiping up from the bottom. Even the app icons look like they were lifted straight from an iOS device. As someone who uses an iPhone as a personal device, I couldn't help but sit and spot all the similarities between the two. And depending on how you look at it, you'll either like it or hate it the moment you experience the phone.

The phone also has what Vivo likes to call Game Cube. It's a gaming assistant that offers functions like blocking background calls, blocking notifications, turning on eSports mode and more. Yes, Vivo is really going all in with the gaming features here. I mean, there are a lot of features worth checking out, so be sure to have a look at the gaming mode features before jumping into a game. They may actually come handy and make up for a much better gaming experience.

Camera

The Vivo Z1 Pro sports a triple camera setup, which is actually quite good for a phone that costs as much as it does. The camera setup consists of a 16MP main sensor with f/1.8 aperture, an 8MP ultra-wide sensor with an f/2.2 aperture and a 2MP depth sensor with f/2.4 aperture. On the front for the selfies, you're looking at a 32-megapixel camera that's resting inside the punch-hole display.

Yes, there's no crazy 48MP sensor here on the Z1 Pro, but the cameras are actually pretty good. Vivo, of all the companies, has a good track record when it comes to camera performance. It's not going to yield exceptional pictures and blow the competition out of the water, but it can take some solid pictures.

With the time I spent using the phone, I can say that the main camera takes some sharp and good looking pictures. The images retain a natural tone and fortunately, there's no crazy color-correction happening here. The wide angle lens, on the other hand, will give you some images that lack details. Well, most wide angle cameras have issues, so I am not really that surprised. In fact, I like playing around the wide-angle camera just for getting a different perspective, so I was glad to see that option here.

You can take portrait mode pictures, and they look fine. The edge detection isn't crazy good, but it'll get the job done. There's also a pro mode for people who want to fine-tune their settings. Anyway, I am not going to take too much time and just show you some samples instead. Here, take a look -

Vivo Z1 Pro Review

Battery Life

In terms of the battery life, the Vivo Z1 Pro has a massive 5,000 mAh battery. That's a huge battery and it explains why the phone has quite a bit of heft to it. As for the performance, well, let's just say that it can last for a long time on a single charge. Seriously, the standby time on this phone is pretty crazy. I literally forgot the phone on my table and came back two days later after a trip to see a lot of juice left in it.

Even if you are a heavy hitter, you should be able to get a pretty good battery life out of this phone. The battery is so big that the Z1 Pro also allows you to charge other devices and use it as a power bank. You can use that feature with the help of an OTG cable. By the phone ship with an 18W fast charger inside the box, so topping up the battery isn't going to be an issue either. Thumbs up for the battery life!

The Final Say

The Vivo Z1 Pro with it's starting price of Rs. 14,999 is competing with the likes of the Redmi Note 7 Pro, the Realme 3 Pro, and the newly launched Samsung Galaxy M40. You can almost say Vivo is playing on dangerous grounds with the Z1 Pro. But all things considered, I think it's safe to say that Vivo has delivered a good package at this price point.

Honestly, there's not a lot to hate about the phone except for the fact that it comes with a micro USB port and is running an unimaginably heavy skin of Android. And yes, the bloatware. Don't even get me started on that. But there's no denying that there's a lot to like about the Z1 Pro. It performs really well and is on par with the phones that it's competing in this price segment. It looks like a premium phone and the cameras are also nice. I mean, what's not to like?

Vivo has put its best step forward with the first phone in this new "Z" series, and I think it's a good one. It might not be the first phone that would come to your mind when you think of mid-range phones, but the Z1 Pro is a good start and it worth taking a look.